


The Cursed Hour

by lilsnuggle, StarGirl11, visionaryScribe



Series: Connected Curses [3]
Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Adorable Fluffiness, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Cursed Luz Noceda, Fluff, Gen, I swear, Owlbeast deciding to be a Mom to Puppy Luz, Puppy Luz, Werewolf AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:54:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27273739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilsnuggle/pseuds/lilsnuggle, https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarGirl11/pseuds/StarGirl11, https://archiveofourown.org/users/visionaryScribe/pseuds/visionaryScribe
Summary: Luz hadn't been entirely sure how she was going to explain to Eda that she came from a pack of shapeshifters. Only that she was probably going to need to figure it out before the next full moon. However, a certain boiling rainstorm unexpectedly forces the conversation.OREda and King finding out about the curse went nowhere near the plan Luz had been trying to piece together.
Relationships: Eda Clawthorne & Luz Noceda
Series: Connected Curses [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1989874
Comments: 3
Kudos: 165





	The Cursed Hour

**Author's Note:**

> An addition to the bigger AU that's has been quietly been worked on in the background that I'm sharing with some friends.
> 
> Luz wears a fluffy fur coat three sizes too big everywhere she goes and she growls anytime someone tries to touch it. It doesn't take long for Eda to realize she is no longer the only one with a curse living in her house.
> 
> Everyone knows the Blights are practically born with dark circles under their eyes, but that's nothing new.

When they looked back on it years later, it seemed almost laughable. How worried she was about Eda would take her transformations. Whenever she inevitably happened to find out about them. If anyone would understand Luz it would be her mentor with her own curse. 

However, at the time Luz had her first transformation after arriving on the Isles... she hadn’t been exactly thinking logically. If there was one thing the family agreed on, it was that you didn’t tell outsiders they were a bunch of odd looking shape-shifting wolves. Not unless you were planning to bring them into the family permanently, at least. Since, if any past experiences had taught them all it did was spell trouble. 

That being said, Luz had been planning on telling Eda before the first full moon after her arrival. She doubted she could keep it a complete secret then since those were always the nights where she wanted to transform the most. 

However, a boiling rainstorm coming in a week before the first full moon had ended up usurping all of her plans on how to tell Eda and King about the family curse.

* * *

The whole reason Luz had even agreed to King’s half-baked plan to learn magic was she was looking for something to distract herself. Her wolf form  _ absolutely  _ feared and loathed thunder and this close to the full moon. Luz was more prone to sharing some of that same fear than normal and thus being more on edge the minute she started hearing the distant rumbles of thunder.

So saying the least, Luz had already been on edge. Even before they broke the elixir and the strange creature that she would only later realize was Eda began rampaging around the house. However, being cornered by Eda had not helped matters in the slightest. 

Luz had never dealt with another cursed creature before. All of her limited experiences were with her own family and their forms. Which was not a lot of good here. Since whatever Eda was, it wasn’t the same wolf creature that her entire family shifted into. 

So the panic of facing a creature she didn’t know. Didn’t know how friendly it could be. Didn’t know if she could even remotely handle it. If it even recognized her or viewed her as some threat to its territory. Combined with her already being on edge had finally sent her over the edge. Luz did the thing that came to her most when she was panicking and facing down a strange creature that was larger than her that she had no way to fight back. She transformed into her wolf form before she really thought it through on whether this was actually a smart idea.

However, almost as soon as she had done so... she started having some regrets. Whenever she was in wolf mode. The wolf tended to take most of the reigns and when faced with the bigger threat had decided going submissive was the best option. Something that Luz once she had fully regained control wasn’t entirely sure if it was the best idea. Mainly because she wasn’t entirely sure it would work on some strange creature that was most certainly  _ not _ a wolf. 

In what felt like the world’s longest staring contest, time seemed to almost stand still for a moment. As the owlbeast just seemed to stare down at Luz. Sniffing the air slightly. Before in a move that shocked Luz reached down and gave Luz a lick. 

Luz let out a startled yelp. Knowing even less what to do with the sudden change in actions than she had before. And before she could even fully process what was going on, the strange ‘owl’ had picked her up by the scruff of her neck. Plopping the two of them down into Eda’s nest and resuming licking Luz before she could manage to make an attempt to scramble free. Crossing her legs to make escape slightly more difficult and blocking her in.

Well, there could be worse things then an unwarranted cleaning, wolf Luz supposed. At least she wasn’t being made prey for the strange creature. 

* * *

King had been watching this all unfold with growing confusion. 

Whatever he had been expecting when the night had started and they realized they had a large demon running around the house. This  _ wasn’t _ it.

Sure, Eda had always had her quirks. Not that he minded, but there had been more than a shred of truth to the joking earlier about her owl like behavior. However, until now he had just dismissed it as ‘Eda being Eda’.

The same had held true with Luz. He hadn’t missed the strange, almost dog like behaviors from her. No matter how much the girl tried to hide it. The head tilts. The ability to hear things not even Eda could. There were signs that something was up. But he hadn’t been sure if that was a Luz thing or a human thing. 

To say the least, he hadn’t expected one of them to be cursed, let alone the both of them. He was seriously wondering how he had missed that one. With Luz, he could sort of understand. He had known her for a few days now. However, he had been living with Eda for years now. How had it taken him this long to pick up on it?

It just astounded him that such a secret had been kept. If nothing else he would have thought Hooty, who had been with Eda even longer then he had, would have spilled the secret a long time ago. And yet...he stared at the odd duo again. He was  _ just now _ finding out about it. Maybe Hooty was better at keeping secrets then he had originally thought?

At least Eda wasn’t attacking them anymore, he supposed as he continued watching the two of them. Looking between the two for a moment. The strange puppy she demon that Luz had morphed into had a look that almost seemed to say ‘How is this my life’ as ‘Eda’ licked her yet again. Not that ‘Eda’ seemed to notice, seeming to be too busy trying to clean Luz’s coat.

Guess all he could do now was wait for one of them to change back and explain just what had happened.

* * *

Being licked clean by a strange owl creature was not one of the most pleasant experiences wolf Luz had gone through it. Though all things considered, it probably was not even close to being the top ten weirdest things she had even dealt with. Not when you had a family like her’s back home. This didn’t even remotely come close to the fireworks incident back when she was eight, and some of her cousin’s family had nearly set half a park on fire with ill-managed fireworks.

Still, it was  _ unusual _ to say the least. At least for now the ‘owl’ seemed satisfied with its job cleaning her. And had just settled into the nest even further. Preventing an escape attempt for the time being. 

Not to say everything about the situation was entirely unpleasant. Now that she was sure that the other creature didn’t have it out for them. Wolf Luz began to relax slightly. There was something oddly relaxing and comforting about having a giant purring ‘owl’s’ chest pressed up against your back. 

Maybe it was the distant claps of thunder finally fading in the distance. Maybe she was just that tired from the events of that evening. Maybe there was something oddly familial about being licked clean, even if it was by a creature that looked nothing like them. That made her feel safe, even after some of the earlier events. But before Luz even realized she had drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Getting Eda back to her regular form was easy enough King discovered. Once she was asleep, that was. All he had needed was a bendy straw and another of her elixirs. And “poof” no more beast Eda. 

Luz had proven to be more difficult. He had tried the same technique that he had with Eda. Only for it to do absolutely nothing. So he was stuck with one Eda and one still she-demon Luz.

Maybe in hindsight he should have warned Eda first when she finally woke up. Since her first reaction when spotting a strange pup demon in the nest was to summon her own staff for her protection. Which was exactly when King realized his mistake. Apparently demon beast Eda and regular Eda did not have the same memories. Oh boy this was going to cause some headaches. “Wait, don’t hit her! That’s Luz.” King said as he quickly squirmed over the top of the nest to stop her.

Eda started in surprise looking back at the girl. “Luz?!” Before slowly lowering her staff for a moment. Taking a second look at the puppy demon and realizing the coat’s color was almost right in line with that strange jacket Luz seemed to take everywhere with her. So it wasn’t that much of a stretch, at least. But since when could humans shape-shift? Was this something she had just never heard of before? “What in Titan’s name happened?” Had someone cursed Luz when she snuck into Hexside?

“I don’t know, really.” King admitted with a frown. “Right after you cornered us was when transformed into that creature. Luz transformed into that.” King motioned at the sleeping form of Luz.

Eda frowned at that. “Sounds like a shapeshifter.” Her first instinct had been to think curse but that didn’t make much sense either. From what she knew about most cursed creatures. The transformations didn’t behave as a defensive behavior. They came and went as they pleased if they weren’t medicated. And she had never seen Luz take any medicine during her stay here. So what was behind the shifting then?

Better yet if Luz was simply a shapeshifter. Why hadn’t she mentioned it before now? She had seen enough of the Isles in the past few days that she must have realized that her being a shapeshifter that seemed took on some sort of wolf demon form. Was far from the weirdest thing around. Was there something else she hadn’t accounted for?

“Did I hurt her at all?” Eda asked with a frown, kneeling down next to the girl deciding to push out the endless questions for now. Moving on to trying to piece together what apparently had happened. She looked unharmed, at least. Though it was hard to tell for sure when she was apparently in the form of a wolf demon.

King shook his head. “No, uh actually you started cleaning her.”

“Cleaning her? Really?” Eda asked, one eyebrow raising in skepticism as King nodded again. But then again, it looked like something had been going over the demon’s fur. It just seemed so odd. The only traits she had really ever known her beast form to exhibit were all predatory. This... sounded strangely motherly for the beast. Not a side of it she would have ever expected the beast capable of showing. Who knew it had it in them? “Did it do anything else?”

King shook his head. “No, you kind of just laid there in the nest. Until you both went to sleep. I tried giving the elixir to her like I did you. But it did nothing with her.”

Eda frowned at that. If it was a curse, which was seeming less likely at the moment, then it was a different type then to her own. Not that it told her much more, if she was being honest. 

Realizing King probably knew just about as much information about Luz as she did, she let out a sigh. She needed some apple blood and food before she could sort out this new information. “Alright lets wake up the kid. Hopefully she doesn’t need any help to transform back.” Since Eda wasn’t even sure how she could help if needed. “Get some breakfast and then we can get this sorted out.”

* * *

Apparently unlike her. Luz had some control over her other form. If the ease of which she shifted back to her human form after they woke up was any sign.

About an hour later saw the trio in the living room. Luz nursing the more kid friendly version of Apple Blood, looking guilty. “Sorry about that.” 

“Don’t worry about it, at least you didn’t damage Hooty like I did.” Eda joked. Though it fell flat judging by Luz’ face. “Hey really don’t worry about it. If I had any control over my curse last night wouldn’t have even happened.” This one was entirely on her. “I might not entirely understand what you shifted into. But I’m pretty sure it was in response to me right?”

Luz gave a tentative nod at the question. “Well, it wasn’t just that. My wolf side doesn’t particularly like thunder. So the storm already had me on edge. And well, encountering another cursed creature beside my family for the first time...didn’t exactly help.”

“So it is a curse then.” Eda realized with a frown. Realizing that if Luz had any experience with cursed creatures that must be what the wolf was. Some part of her boiling in anger at the idea of a mere child being cursed again. No child should have to deal with the pain that came with a curse. At Luz’s nod, she asked. “Do you have any idea who is behind it?”

Luz shook her head. “No, all we really know is it’s a family curse. One that was well before my time. I only know the stories the family passed around. The curse has been with us for generations now.” Luz admitted. “The story goes that some witch cursed one of my ancestors in their youth. In vengeance for some action that’s long since been forgotten. So they and their descendants would all transform into, well, you saw what I looked like.”

“A wolf demon.” Eda finished the sentence. “So was you wanting to learn magic just a coincidence or does it deal with your furry problem?” Not entirely able to hide some of her disappointment at the ulterior motive that had been unknown until now.

“Kind of a bit of both?” Luz admitted. “I usually have pretty good control over my transformations. Last night notwithstanding. So I do  _ actually _ genuinely want to learn magic. However, I’m also curious to see if I can learn more about where the curse came from.” She paused for a moment. Seeming to realize that whether she had intended to the existence of the curse and its other intentions had hurt Eda. “But I will say this when I asked to learn from you. I was really only thinking about wanting to learn magic. It wasn’t until later that I thought that this might finally get some lost answers to what happened with the curse.”

Well, Eda couldn’t entirely blame her there. Probably the situation if reversed she would have done something similar. Especially since it didn’t sound like they even know how they had gotten the curse. Much like her now that she thought about it. Speaking of similarities and differences, though. There was one key, one that she was extremely curious about. “So how did you learn to control the transformation?”

Luz frowned, thinking for a moment. “I honestly don’t know.” Luz admitted. “It’s just how it’s always been for us. I guess my ancestor must have figured it out somehow. But there aren’t any records or stories of how he did it.” Honestly the most complex part of the transformation was when they first did the ritual to trigger it. And considering what she had seen of Eda’s curse. She wasn’t entirely sure anything she knew at the moment would help Eda, unfortunately. 

Eda let out a disappointed sigh. Well, there went any hope that Luz’s curse might be able to help her with her own. Was a long shot to begin with considering they appeared to be different curses. Though it was still frustrating. What she wouldn’t give to have some time travel spell to find out what had happened. But while there were myths out there stating they might have existed at some point. How to do them had long ago been lost. 

“I’m sorry, Eda.” Luz’s voice broke Eda out of her train of thought. 

Eda shook her head before saying. “Don’t go blaming yourself, kid. Not like you were the one that cursed me in the first place.” No matter how much it would have been nice to control the beast finally. It wasn’t Luz’s fault that she couldn’t part with the secret. “Besides, even if you remembered there was no guarantee it would help me.” 

“Still…” Luz trailed off there. “Maybe figuring out mine would help yours?”

“I wouldn’t get my hopes up that high kid. To me, it looks like our curses are pretty different. Though I appreciate the thought.” Eda said with a shake of the head. Curses came in so many varieties. She wasn’t ready to place her hopes on finding answers for one, might find answers for the other. 

The disappointed look on Luz’s face momentarily surprised Eda. She really wanted to help, huh? “Though I could be wrong. Maybe someway we’ll figure out our curses together.

**Author's Note:**

> And that's it for today. For those of us who missed Buries Treasure (the other part of the same AU that's been posted). This is an AU with multiple co-creators. Some of us write, some of us draw, some do both. 
> 
> As always please let us know what ya think. Leave a comment. Any comment. Comments are great.
> 
> You can also follow us @ wolfbeastau.tumblr.com and see what Puppy Luz actually looks like. Since word descriptions don't really do it justice. 
> 
> We also have a Discord server! https://discord.gg/yrBCqKF


End file.
